Dd3...

[Aubrey]

The quick summary: our metal bed has pieces completely broken off of it because of her climbing on it. The entire footboard sways if we turn a fan on.

 

We've got old furniture because we buy it used so I don't have a heart attack if the kids get crazy. (The older two drew happy faces w/ permanent marker on mil's brand new leather sofa, antique rolltop desk, & wall-to-wall carpeting, & that left an impact, lol. On me, thankfully, & not the stuff.) Anyway, we've always been able to sell our furniture for more than we bought it for. Our kids jump on the sofa sometimes, build forts, etc. Since dd3 has been able to roam around, though...gosh, pictures would be better here...remember the Beethoven dog movie? No, I think it was called Butch, maybe, & it had Tom Hanks in it.

 

Anyway, our furniture looks like that now. She accidentally broke one of those Yankee candle style things *in the toilet.* She screams everything at the top of her lungs. She's blissfully happy, climbing up the end of our bed to stand on top of us & declare: "IT A HAPPY DAY!" Which means Get up & feed me.

 

Or she's furious. Or she's mortally wounded. Or she's sobbing--knock the walls down, scream-sobbing.

 

I've noticed several things. She seems maybe a little worse when she has milk? She's got excema on her upper arms. She LOVES to be held, & will scale ANYTHING to get in someone's lap. She loves even more to be...*squished.* She's bright, but...I can't explain it...it's in a slightly different way than my other kids have been. As if...she's bored w/ it a bit. Or she knows how to *use* it. :lol:

 

(I told her the other day when she did something too rough--"You knocked my ear off!" She leaned over to look & assured me it was still there. Then she checked the other side. Yep, I had one there, too. So I said, "Well, I used to have THREE." Oh, she said, & looked perplexed. Then she exclaimed, "Three is the same as two!" Now she's been chanting that & most recently, she asked for some crackers. "Can I have two crackers? Three is the same as two.") :001_huh:

 

Ok, so back to my point. Or to it at last. I don't know if I've explained it enough, but...she seems...on the edge, maybe. Of something. Not bigger, but in the larger scheme of things. She's got a personality, temperament, whatever you call it, that...well, it's as if it's a storm, & you give it a little leash, because the truth is, you can't hold it. Nobody can. And it's as if...if you could just get her channelled in the right direction, there'd be nothing she couldn't do. It's just that... you have to make sure she's working for good, not evil. :001_huh::lol:

 

So. Am I describing a particular thing that has a name, or is this just my dd? The noise level is incredible here, & fwiw, the buzzing of the flourescent light in the kitchen is too much noise for me, lol, so this is...really a lot.

[Mom-2-7]

Well, you just described my dd to a tee! She's 4 now and is almost completely uncontrollable. We use consistent discipline with her but NOTHING phases her. She deliberately does stuff for shock value. She really does. She is so smart and yet so devious. And soooo exhausting. She's so loud; always screaming. She's my little Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. One minute very happy, then next minute the world is coming to an end.

 

I find her on top of the kitchen table or the counters. We have had to install another lock on our front door to keep her in the house. She disappears in stores if I make the mistake of turning my back on her.

 

I joke sometimes that if she could just harness her power for good and not evil, there would be no stopping her.

 

She is most definitely not like her 8 other siblings.

 

We have thought it might be ADHD. We've tried about 3 or 4 different natural supplements. We took her off milk about a year ago. We've limited sugar, artificial colors/flavors. Nothing makes a difference. We are now considering a radical diet change ala Feingold.

 

We lovingly refer to her as our exclamation point child. :lol:

 

So, no words of wisdom, but plenty of :grouphug: from someone who's in the same boat.

[Giraffe]

We have thought it might be ADHD. We've tried about 3 or 4 different natural supplements. We took her off milk about a year ago. We've limited sugar, artificial colors/flavors. Nothing makes a difference. We are now considering a radical diet change ala Feingold.

 

So, no words of wisdom, but plenty of :grouphug: from someone who's in the same boat.

 

Y'all have both described my brother, now an adult with 5 kids of his own. Let me tell you that there is hope! And the Feingold diet helped him enormously. Back in the day there was no such thing as ADHD, but we believe that is what he had/has. He still uses caffeine to calm down.

 

Get them to use their powers for good.

 

Good luck!! And major, major hugs!:grouphug::grouphug:

[mamapjama]

:grouphug:

 

Now tell me how you stay positive, joke about it, and homeschool other children? We are preparing to do home renovations and I am almost dreading it because it will stress dh out if something gets destroyed as I know it will. But we need more room and 12 years in a home that needed to be renovated 12 years ago gets tiring :(

[Ottakee]

Sounds so much like my now 14dd when she was younger. I took her for an evaluation and the pediatric neuropsychologist came out of the room from testing her (this was at 3) and said "I am tired". Dd had an attention span of about 15 seconds for any activity they tried.

 

I would certainly look at the milk allergy--and possibly other food allergies as well. Milk though can be hidden in EVERYTHING under many different names so read each and every label carefully.

 

Sensory issues might also be a play. It might be ADHD as well.

 

I don't think it would hurt at this point to get the ball rolling to get an evaluation done. It can take 3-6 months or more to get in to a good specialist so better to get on a waiting list now.

[Chris in VA]

She sounds like one of those joyful kids who maybe has a sensory-seeking way of looking at the world. Some things stand out in your post--

 

She's loud, she likes to be "squished" (this is a big one), she maybe bumps into things (another big indicator) or is like a bull in a china shop (is that what you mean by Beethovan?:D).

Kids like this need extra sensory stimulation. It also sounds like some food allergy stuff going on--can look like hyperactivity, but so can sensory-seeking.

 

I'd get an eval now. There's tons that can be done to help her get along in a world that may be a little less huggy, a little quieter, a little less intense.

 

I'd also enjoy the heck out of her--sounds like a funny, warm, sunshine-y kinda gal!

[gingersmom]

I would take her for an OT evaluation.

 

It sounds a lot like she is having sensory integration issues.

 

You can have her evaulated through the state (my started receiving services at 18 months and then at age 3 I believe it is early intervention that takes over).

 

OT makes a huge difference and the sooner you receive services the better the outcome.

[Murmer]

You just described my dd! She skips when she walkks and you know that she is holding back. She loves to be squished too (which made me research sensory issues but the evaluators for early intervention didn't say anything in their report). When we were in the middle of her milk allergy she had fits but the fits were uncontrollable. NOTHING made them stop she would scream bloody murder for over an hour regardless of if she was held or in her room. Without milk tantrums are tantrums but she is still all over the place ALL the time. When I see other children who can stand or sit still I am jealous because my dd never will (which is part of why I am homeschooling).

[Debora R]

Wow! What a joyful challenge you have there! :lol:

 

Definitely teach her to be a force for good!

 

:iagree:with those who said she needs sensory stimulation.

 

My Eldest is a bit ADHD - undiagnosed, because I don't want that official label. When he was smaller, we had to teach him how to calm himself down - made a game of teaching him how to do meditative breathing - and we allow him to self-medicate with caffine (usually in the form of coffee, or 2 hershey's dark chocolate kisses) when he needs a little extra help to focus.

[Aubrey]

If I can get her to say, "Yes, Mama," she will pretty much do what I've asked her to do. When I complain to her about the furniture, she'll solemnly (& loudly) declare, "I won't ever do that again!" (And then she does, lol.)

 

She has a hard time talking, although *now* her speech is pretty decent, I think. When she was at the age that my other kids started talking, she would keep her lips shut, & make the sound of the number of syllables she wanted to say through her nose. When she finally started talking, her words were were...well, for "Grace" she'd say something like "Umph." We call older dd "Gracie-pie" sometimes, so to clarify, dd would say "Umph-tie."

 

I don't know if that's very clear, but her speech has been slow enough that I was watching the calendar to see if we'd need to do any kind of speech therapy & playing sound games w/ her to help it develop. Between that & her noise level, dh has suggested that she can't hear well.

 

Otoh, if I really focus on looking at her eyes, spending a chunk of time talking to her & reading to her when she's not in trouble, addressing her needs (What should we eat NOW?) in a reasonable QUICK manner, she doesn't have as much trouble. But she does require special handling, & she does. not. back. down. if she thinks she's right.

 

But she can sit & play Polly Pockets or dollhouse quietly by herself for an hr. Since she turned 2, things have steadily gotten better (measured by the special scale we use for *her* lol), but since 3...maybe it's my imagination, but things seem to be ramping up again.

 

"I'm a grown up," she insists at one time.

"Go to work, Daddy!" she yells another time.

"You go to work," dh laughs back.

"Abbies don't go to work," she scolds.

And then, "I want some!" to me when I'm putting on makeup.

"This is for grown ups."

"I'm a grown up."

"You have to have a job," I said, remembering her conversation w/ dh.

"I have a job." She really wants the lipstick.

"What's your job?"

She pauses to think about this, tapping her finger to her chin.

"FEEDING CAEDMON!" she screams happily. "Now can I have some?" :lol:

 

The up side of her thinking she's immortal, can drive the car, take care of her baby bro, etc. is that if she decides to be helpful, she actually is. She's a clean freak, too, & complains that I don't clean enough. Then she'll get a washcloth wet & start washing the cabinets, highchair, baby, & then she comes after us! :001_huh: "You not clean. You need to be washed."

 

She takes out the laundry trash. Why? I have no idea. She's like a little elf in the shadows, sometimes working mischief (I found a half-eaten pear molding between the sofa cushions), sometimes cleaning. :lol:

 

I'm afraid I haven't stuck to relevant descriptions this time, but it's hard to know what's relevant. She was SUCH a hard baby. If there's something going on w/ her, I so wish I'd asked back then. I was in tears *constantly* with this one from about 3mos...well, on. Maybe till 2yrs.

[tofuscramble]

Sounds like my 4 year old son! He is SO bright but like you said about your DD, in a different way than the others. I call him kamikaze kid, he is always deliberately bumping into things and climbing! He never stops talking from the minute he wakes up to the minute he goes to bed. He has absolutely no volume control.

 

I have noticed he is really, very gifted with language, he shows a much broader range of understanding than I expect for his age. He said to me the other day "did you know that blankets can cause global warming?". :001_huh:

 

I recently got a Spanish tutor in to speak only in Spanish to my kids and he is able to understand and answer her when he has never had lessons!! :ohmy:

 

I don't know what this is called but I am glad to see its not just our little guy. He *totally* wears me out but he is SO much fun!!

[Aubrey]

Sounds like my 4 year old son! He is SO bright but like you said about your DD, in a different way than the others. I call him kamikaze kid, he is always deliberately bumping into things and climbing! He never stops talking from the minute he wakes up to the minute he goes to bed. He has absolutely no volume control.

 

I have noticed he is really, very gifted with language, he shows a much broader range of understanding than I expect for his age. He said to me the other day "did you know that blankets can cause global warming?". :001_huh:

 

I recently got a Spanish tutor in to speak only in Spanish to my kids and he is able to understand and answer her when he has never had lessons!! :ohmy:

 

I don't know what this is called but I am glad to see its not just our little guy. He *totally* wears me out but he is SO much fun!!

 

That's funny about the Spanish--something about the language calmed dd when she was a baby, so I'd say whatever phrases I could manage over & over. :001_huh:

[MamaT]

She sounds like my dd who is now 13. She has SO much energy and is interested in so many things she makes me tired.

 

She has channeled her energy in positive ways as she has gotten older. She has an on-line business, plus makes tons of money on ebay. She can cook/bake as well as I can from spending hours in the kitchen "experimenting." Can you see the mess?? It helps that she spends 10-12 hours a week dancing. She has also gotten into making cards - really intricate ones. I am amazed at what she accomplishes.

[*Inna*]

Wow, she sounds like one of my nieces, esp. the talking through closed mouth. She's 7 now and has been diagnosed with ADHD this year. Her parents had decided to try medication (I'm not sure which) and it helped her tremendously.